Customer Reviews

Bluegrass Boy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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I've never been what you call a blugrass fan (maby I'm still not) but this artist has gotten me hooked. Last week I was driving up route 71 in North Carolina - I'm from NJ - and while scanning the am stations i came across this great song "wild geese cry again" and i became hooked. Pulled over and wrote the title down, came here and searched. I am now one happy pup. This song is a classic. Buy you WILL enjoy!

Its good but dont expect anything but bluegrass. Peter Rowan usually shakes things up a bit, whether its his debut self titled album (which has a southwestern feel and is pretty laid back) or his 1982 bluegrass album "Walls of Time" (in which he incorporates some great country and pop music ideas into original and trad songs) or that stupid (to me) reggae-billy bull he did later in his career. Just wanted to let you know that this album is a tradish sounding bluegrass album. Still, all the songs are penned by Rowan, so thats pretty cool.

for "Wild Geese Cry Again" alone (and the rest of the CD is pretty good, too):

I hear drumbeats on the watchtower
My long journey's at an end
Autumn leaves blow on the border
I hear wild geese cry again.

Wow. This is pure poetry/Bluegrass mastery from some old hands. Check out in particular the fiddle of Richard Greene.

Peter Rowan is a prolific writer and on this disc he has assembled some of his best work as well as an all star cast, including Charlie Sawtelle on guitar who is arguably as good as anyone who ever played Bluegrass on that instrument (and I include guys like Clarence White, Tony Rice, Doc Watson and the rest).
There is not a bad song on the whole disc. I wish I had learned Bluegrass Boy when my daughter was a baby! There's "Let the Harvest Go to Seed" a tribute to Bill Monroe and his love of the nature that surrounded him, "Homeless and Hungry", a timeless song that is as relevant today as when it was written (or maybe more so). If you only buy one Peter Rowan disc of the many wonderful discs he has out, this is the one to get.